Nintendo Has No Plans to Release an N64 Classic Right Now

Given the NES Classic Edition and SNES Classic Edition's popularity, many have assumed Nintendo would follow them up with an N64 Classic Edition, but that appears unlikely for now.

Speaking with Kotaku, Nintendo President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime poured cold water on the idea of a retro Nintendo 64 console.

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“We were clear when we did the first two Classic series that, for us, these were limited-time opportunities that were a way for us as a business to bridge from the conclusion of Wii U as a hardware system to the launch of Nintendo Switch,” Fils-Aime said. “That was the very strategic reason we launched the NES Classic system.”

Nintendo released that system in November 2016. The Wii U was essentially dead in the water at that point, while Nintendo was still about five months away from launching its successor, the Switch. Even though the Switch performed well out of the gate, Nintendo then responded to the overwhelming demand for the NES Classic by launching the SNES Classic Edition in September 2017 and reintroducing the NES Classic in June.

That got many fans' hopes up for the console holder to release an N64 Classic Edition this holiday season.

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“So while consumers may have been anticipating something, we view these as limited time opportunities," continued Fils-Aime. "We’ve also now been very clear that as the consumer looks forward to engaging with our classic content that is going to happen more and more with the subscription service."

Kotaku asked if this meant Fils-Aime was definitively ruling out a retro Nintendo 64. He declined to do so, but his response effectively eliminates the possibility of Nintendo releasing such a console any time soon.

“I would not ever rule something out,” he said, “but what I can tell you is certainly that’s not in our planning horizon.”